According to Canada, Germany is the most important exporter from lumber to the USA. Many forest owners now benefit from Trump’s customs dispute with the Canadian government.
The international wood market has long been upset. The forest owners were just happy because there are positive forecasts for the German wood market for 2025. “We may finally come out of the loss zone,” Förster Florian Koch summarizes the current stand from the Hessian Neukirchen.
Satisfied, he misses a beech wood trunk, the spring harvest at Hessenforst went well. And when have there been positive reports from the German Forest in recent years? The ever faster sequence of Storms, drought and pests only caused negative headlines.
Sägzewerk owner Gangolf Hosenfeld, who runs a medium -sized company near Fulda, is now rather positive. In the sawmills, they have earned between 15 and 30 percent less for the past two years, because of the poor building economy. Now Hosenfeld hopes for the new German government. And not only that: the wood prices rise in the world market, and of all things because of US President Donald Trump.
The American own goal
No country depends on this building material as the USA. 90 percent of the houses are made of wood there. The German umbrella organization of the saw and wooden administration estimates that around 115 to 120 million cubic meters of timber are required in the United States every year. But because North America also had to deal with forest fires and beetle damage, more and more sawmills should have closed, says Julia Möbus, managing director of the umbrella organization.
So the country hangs even more on export goods. “So far, they import around 30 million cubic meters from Canada, and Germany delivers another two million,” explains Möbus. However, the introduction of a customs to Canadian softwood, plus in combination with existing anti -dumping duties, became the own goal for the Americans. It led to the shortage and more expensive of the offer in the United States. Investment bank UBS estimates that the tariffs already decided would make the construction of an average house more expensive by $ 6,400.
Two sides of a medal
Canada continues to deliver wood to the USA, despite the tariffs on Canadian coniferous wood. To what extent the amount has decreased, there are no current numbers. The export volume of wood from Germany to the United States in 2025 cannot currently be specified with a precise number.
However, the German wooden industry already sees its chances and jumps into the lack of supply gap. Good for those who work in the US export business. Sawmar operator Hosenfeld says that he also knocks something like “wood headhunter” in order to win him over for the US market.
U.S. check dependence on wood
Meanwhile, the US Ministry of Trade continues to investigate whether the wood from Germany is not a security risk for the US economy. According to the government’s will, the United States should become as independent of foreign suppliers as possible and domestic forestry should benefit. Within 270 days, the Minister of Commerce should submit a report to the President with concrete results and recommendations for action. That would be in December.
Sägewerk operator Hosenfeld, however, prefers to concentrate on the domestic market. Although he is concerned with a different concern: urging Canadian providers to the German or European market, this could increase the competition for domestic wood producers. This could lead to price pressure and market share shifts.
Germany is rich in forests
A good third of Germany’s country is covered by forest. Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate are at the top of the federal states with a forest content of around 42 percent. The wood, which is mainly processed in Germany, also comes from domestic forests.
And not only that. Germany is the largest producer of timber in Europe and is fifth worldwide after the United States, Russia, Canada and China. In addition, the Federal Forest Inventory from last year has shown that more forest is grown up again. That caused many forest owners to breathe a sigh of relief.
